1. Readings
Article #1 - Using the ADDIE Model to Design Second Life Activities for Online Learners
This article discusses the reasons that Second Life (SL) should and could be implemented into online learning environments as well as discusses potential challenges. SL provides a real life like environment where users can experience real life events but also environments and experiences outside our normal realm as well. Organizations depict real world place and events for users to explore who might not be able to otherwise be a part of these experiences. In terms of online learning environments, SL provides for the social presence that is otherwise missing compared to a face-to-face classroom. SL can help support relationships between students and the instructor as well as between students themselves that is often difficult to naturally cultivate through simply using blackboard. Another benefit to implementing SL is the opportunity to open up the learning environment beyond that one course and allowing for collaboration between different sections of the same course and other professionals. SL also provides for depth of learning through access to multiple forms of information such as web sites, pictures, videos, etc. SL provides for more than one way to communicate (text and verbal) and provides an authentic learning environment to explore and solve real world problems. Some challenges of using SL are the hardware requirements, the inability to enter SL from schools/organizations, the fact that it is open so anyone can enter a group meeting and become a distraction, that it is most beneficial to small group settings, and that the text communication can become difficult to follow during conversations. The authors also discussed how they implemented the ADDIE instructional design model to incorporate SL into an online course where the instructor analyzed the need and potential use of SL in the course, designed learning activities and methods to organize and present content. The instructor then developed the content and delivered the materials needed for the course and then began the implementation. This was followed by an evaluation where students' interactions, feedback, and questions about the assignments were all collected and analyzed.
Article #2 - Theories and Practices of Multimodal Education: The Instructional Dynamics of Picture Books and Primary Classrooms
The focus of this article was to describe how multimodal education theories and practices can exist in the classroom despite the constraints teachers often feel from standardized testing. The authors basically discuss how linear text is no longer the main focus or main resource for meaning in books. They specifically focused on children's books that they analyzed and categorized to then choose from to use in a study. The authors explained that children have always been multimodal in the way that they interact with others and express themselves (drawing, writing, drama, etc.). In the digital world we live in now, books have become multimodal as well. The authors mention that possibly without consciously doing so, authors of children's books are creating multimodal books by changes in font, size of the fonts, font colors, and nonlinear presentations of writing. These all provide for multimodal interactions between students and the text. Multimodal instruction in the classroom involves how the teacher models, explains, and scaffolds learning. The three teachers in the research study chose books from the categorized list and developed lessons that incorporated the multimodal texts and promoted the students to think the same way when doing their work. The authors did observe that 3 new roles had been created for teachers which include resource manager, coconstructor of knowledge, and as design consultant. The authors finish by talking about how the communication world is constantly developing so why should literacy instruction as well?
2. Second Life
Article #1 - Using the ADDIE Model to Design Second Life Activities for Online Learners
This article discusses the reasons that Second Life (SL) should and could be implemented into online learning environments as well as discusses potential challenges. SL provides a real life like environment where users can experience real life events but also environments and experiences outside our normal realm as well. Organizations depict real world place and events for users to explore who might not be able to otherwise be a part of these experiences. In terms of online learning environments, SL provides for the social presence that is otherwise missing compared to a face-to-face classroom. SL can help support relationships between students and the instructor as well as between students themselves that is often difficult to naturally cultivate through simply using blackboard. Another benefit to implementing SL is the opportunity to open up the learning environment beyond that one course and allowing for collaboration between different sections of the same course and other professionals. SL also provides for depth of learning through access to multiple forms of information such as web sites, pictures, videos, etc. SL provides for more than one way to communicate (text and verbal) and provides an authentic learning environment to explore and solve real world problems. Some challenges of using SL are the hardware requirements, the inability to enter SL from schools/organizations, the fact that it is open so anyone can enter a group meeting and become a distraction, that it is most beneficial to small group settings, and that the text communication can become difficult to follow during conversations. The authors also discussed how they implemented the ADDIE instructional design model to incorporate SL into an online course where the instructor analyzed the need and potential use of SL in the course, designed learning activities and methods to organize and present content. The instructor then developed the content and delivered the materials needed for the course and then began the implementation. This was followed by an evaluation where students' interactions, feedback, and questions about the assignments were all collected and analyzed.
Article #2 - Theories and Practices of Multimodal Education: The Instructional Dynamics of Picture Books and Primary Classrooms
The focus of this article was to describe how multimodal education theories and practices can exist in the classroom despite the constraints teachers often feel from standardized testing. The authors basically discuss how linear text is no longer the main focus or main resource for meaning in books. They specifically focused on children's books that they analyzed and categorized to then choose from to use in a study. The authors explained that children have always been multimodal in the way that they interact with others and express themselves (drawing, writing, drama, etc.). In the digital world we live in now, books have become multimodal as well. The authors mention that possibly without consciously doing so, authors of children's books are creating multimodal books by changes in font, size of the fonts, font colors, and nonlinear presentations of writing. These all provide for multimodal interactions between students and the text. Multimodal instruction in the classroom involves how the teacher models, explains, and scaffolds learning. The three teachers in the research study chose books from the categorized list and developed lessons that incorporated the multimodal texts and promoted the students to think the same way when doing their work. The authors did observe that 3 new roles had been created for teachers which include resource manager, coconstructor of knowledge, and as design consultant. The authors finish by talking about how the communication world is constantly developing so why should literacy instruction as well?
2. Second Life
My Second Life Exploration...
Ways to incorporate Second Life into ELA instruction...
I discussed with an ELA teacher what Second Life was and we brainstormed how to incorporate it into classroom instruction.
I discussed with an ELA teacher what Second Life was and we brainstormed how to incorporate it into classroom instruction.
- A very easy way to is to simply allow students to explore a world and then write a story about their journey. They could include setting, characters, and the plot of their experience.
- Another way is using the chat function to promote language in conversation.
- I also read that students can watch plays on Second Life which is a great way to study plays and script writing instead of traditional ways of studying from books.
Interesting ways to using SL. Thank you for sharing. Where did you take this screenshot? It is dark!!! *_^
ReplyDeleteI don't remember the exact name of the place but it was some mythical world someone created where I was collecting gems and running from giant boulders. lol
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